Dragonhunter, Nightstalker
by Katie Trillion
Summary: Grimmel the Grisly kills dragons for fun. But he isn't just a one-man team. There's another person working with him, someone who we have never seen before, someone who could pose a threat to the Dragon Riders... Nightstalker.
1. Chapter 1

Dragonhunter, Nightstalker: Chapter One: **Into the Fire**

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**This is my first HTTYD3 fan fiction, so I hope you like it. It has an OC, and this beginning part (the italics) is a flashback to Grimmel's past. **

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_The villagers were cowering in their sheep pens, in the dark, trying not to breathe in the stink of extremely nervous mammal. They were attempting to hide among the bleating woolly creatures but failing miserably, partly because of their clothing, all shaggy brown or black fur and dark leather, with bronze brooches and iron swords that shone in the sporadic tongues of flame that lit up the night, and partly because of the noise. _

_Children were crying, and mothers were frantically trying to shield their babies, sheep were still bleating in rolling-eyed terror, and there were screams from the burning village in the distance; some people had been left behind. _

_The little village was new. It was always new, because it had to get rebuilt just about every week. _

_There was a roar that sent sheep and humans scattering over the hillside. There was a scraping sound, like claws on stone. A tongue of blue fire burst up into the sky from over the side of the cliff. _

_Then the huge black dragon, green eyes glowing blue in the light from its mouth, rose up, great black scaly wings unfurling, from over the cliff. Its claws and teeth gleamed darkly. It roared again, and a sheep blundered the wrong way. There was a nasty crunch-squish sound. The dragon seemed to be smiling, and there was a limp sheep's leg protruding sadly from its mouth, then the sheep was swallowed, and the dragon's throat bobbed as it swallowed the woolly mammal. _

_Then the skinny teenage boy, holding a crossbow that was emitting a faint purple light, stood up from a mass of panicking sheep. His hair was white-blonde and stuck up from his head, and his eyes were dark grey and glinting dangerously. The dragon stared impassively down at him. The boy smiled, and the blue-orange light made his grey eyes dance._

_There was a sound like whistling, then a single crossbow bolt, glowing purple around the tip, sped towards the dragon. The black reptile blinked, then there was a sound like _thunk_._

_The dragon went still. Its wings stopped flapping, and hung in the air, useless and limp. Then gravity took hold, and it dropped, turning over and over in the air, its eyes falling shut to cover the green glare of its dead eyes. _

_The body fell into the sea, sending up a fountain of salty water that sprayed the villagers and sheep that were still clustered in a nervous huddle on the apex of the cliff, staring down in complete and total fascination at the dead dragon. The sea was surging and heaving so that the dragon almost seemed to be alive again, legs flailing. Then the dragon's black body disappeared under the choppy waves that were surging in the storm that was whipping at the white hair of the boy, who was still holding the crossbow. He was smiling. _

_Then the shocked silence of the villagers and the sheep was broken. People surged around the boy with joyful exclamations, and the boy was slapped on the back, kissed by various girls, and generally told that he was a hero. _

He was a hero. _The boy was still smiling. _

"_What do you want for doing that, Grimmel? That was... amazing." The chief was looking down at him, his voice gruff and somehow respectful; the man's thick black beard was singed around the edges and his helmet was dented. There was a notched sword in his hand, stained with dragon blood._

_Grimmel looked up at the chief. _

"_I want to be a hero," he said, "I want to be a hero... forever."_

_He was holding his crossbow as though it was made of porcelain, careful and steady as though he was frightened of dropping it. His grey eyes flickered, moving to stare past the chief. _

_Then Grimmel reached over his shoulder, pulled a bolt from his quiver and shoved it into the bow. He aimed, ignoring the chief's protests, and shot over the chief's shoulder. The chief felt the bolt whistling past his ear. _

_The dragon that had been silently sneaking up behind the chief - it was gaudy, a bright green Deadly Nadder with red spikes - collapsed to the ground, the light in its wide yellow eyes going out, a crossbow bolt embedded deep in the centre of its forehead. Grimmel crossed his arms, still holding the bow in one hand; it already had another purple-glowing bolt in it. _

_Then, with a lazy smile, he fiddled with the trigger for a second or two, then tossed the bow into the air above his head. There was a _click_. The Zippleback fell out of the air. Grimmel caught the bow, then readjusted the trigger again. _

"_Well?"_

_The chief was staring at the dead Nadder and Zippleback, its two heads curled in on themselves, grudging admiration in his eyes. _

"_I have to admit it, kid... by Odin, you're good."_

* * *

Grimmel the Grisly sat at his desk in the guttering candlelight. Prowling around him, half-in and half-out of the light, the dragons were growling softly, the sharp edges of their long yellow tusks glinted in the light. Grimmel had named them Beta, Delta, Gamma, Alpha and Omega. The metal fittings of the thick collars and bridles fastened around their necks were covered in blood; they'd had a recent feed. The sad remains of three goats were scattered in the corners of the cave. There were smoking green acid marks all over the walls.

Grimmel whistled softly, and a dragon - the one he'd called Beta - lumbered over to him, and opened its mouth, tusks extending out of its mouth, dripping with saliva and the remains of its last feed were stuck between its teeth. Its teeth gleamed as a mixture of saliva, purple venom and green acid dripped from its jaws. Grimmel filled a vial with the purple liquid, and shook it; Beta jerked as he inserted the vial into an empty hole in the collar, then a puff of breath issued from its nostrils, its eyes dulled and its muscles relaxed a little as it fell back into its drugged stupor.

Grimmel stood up from ministering to the dragon, and then the grating, reptilian screaming roar echoed around the cave, making the candle nearly flicker out. He smiled, loading his crossbow, and then filling the black quiver that was slung across his back with venomous bolts.

* * *

The dragon was tied up outside the cave. It had to be more that two metres tall at the shoulder, with blue-black scales and wide yellow eyes, and its pupils were slits. There was a bony crown of shiny black spikes around its neck and framing its head, and its claws were also black, but its many jagged teeth were white and also red in places.

It roared again, yellow eyes rolling madly, straining at the ropes and chains that were tying it to the wall. There were deep cracks lacing across the solid grey stone around the fastenings, as though the dragon had been wrenching at its chains for some time; a rope had unravelled and was near snapping.

There was a sticky pool of congealing scarlet blood on the floor, and an empty helmet was clinking against the opposite wall.

"What is this?" Grimmel whispered. People listened to whispers, listened harder to the quiet noises than the obvious. They listened even harder if the accompaniment was the soft brush of a crossbow bolt against the back of their neck. "I told you to get a Night Fury."

"We've got you... something special," muttered the warlord in front of him. "Come and look, Grimmel."

They walked around the stacked cages until they came to one that was covered by a black dragonskin.

With a flourish, the warlord pulled the skin off the cage. Grimmel's grey eyes widened, and he smiled.

Inside the cage was a dragon. It looked a little like a Night Fury, but it was pure white and had shimmering silvery patterns across its wings. Its eyes were closed, but then it opened them, revealing blue irises that filled its eyes from edge to edge. Its pupils were black, cat-like slits. It hissed.

There was a sound like ancient paper rustling as the dragon lifted its wings.

"What... is it?" whispered Grimmel, true shock resonating in his hoarse voice as he stared, his gaze transfixed, at the dragon.

"A Light Fury." said the warlord.

Grimmel pulled a metal-and-leather collar from the stack beside him. Then he pulled the dragon's beautiful pure-white head towards him, then he fitted the collar over the dragon's head and began adjusting the straps. The Light Fury shifted restlessly on the iron floor of its cage.

Grimmel inserted a glowing purple glass tube into a hole in the collar. The Light Fury made a noise that was half roar and half scream, its claws scrabbling at the floor; the warlord jumped backwards as a claw sliced a thin cut across his midsection. Then the reptile relaxed onto the floor of its cage, docile.

Grimmel bent close to the dragon, and whispered in its ear:

"You're mine now."

* * *

Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third was freeing a dragon (he would later remember it to be a blue-and-purple Gronckle) when it happened.

A scream - Fishlegs' high-pitched shriek - echoed around the deck of the burning ship. "Probably stubbed his toe," Snotlout muttered, swinging from the corner of one cage, on which his gaudy scaled cloak was caught, leaving him hanging in an undignified position. He struggled for a few moments, then there was the sound of fabric being cut. "Hey, th-" Then he looked up as he fell towards the deck - into a face that he didn't know, covered by scale-armour helmet that reflected the light of the fire, reflecting black or bloody crimson in an iridescent swirl.

The person swung down from the cage - Snotlout could see that it was female - and grabbed his wrists, holding them against the cage bars. Snotlout yelled in pain as the metal heated up, and the girl reached around, shaping the softening metal (she had no gloves) with her hands around Snotlout's wrists, binding him. "Hey!" he yelled, "Hey, what was that for?" The girl ran up the side of the cage, and began jumping from cage to cage with remarkable, almost inhuman agility. Snotlout saw the silhouette of a familiar dragon pass over them, heading for the girl. "Hiccup!" he shouted, but the Night Fury didn't fly down. Snotlout watched as the girl leapt onto the back of the dragon, and whistled softly for it to continue flying.

"Snotlout?" Hiccup ran up to him, Toothless leaping along a few feet behind him. "What happened?" Fishlegs was limping a couple of metres behind him, holding onto Meatlug for support. Snotlout hissed at them: "What the hell was that? There was a girl - another Night Fury - get me out of here, for Thor's sake!"

"Meatlug?" Fishlegs directed the dragon around to Snotlout's back and the dragon opened her mouth and dribbled lava onto the fused metal, melting it enough for Snotlout to wrench his hands free.

"Another Night Fury?" Hiccup whispered in wonder. "Could that be true? Astrid!" he called, climbing onto Toothless, who had been sniffing curiously around the cage and at the curled pieces of half-molten metal. "Round the rest of us up and get them in the air. We need to get home!"

* * *

"Sir?"

"Ah, Stalker." Grimmel turned away from his desk. "Come in."

The Deathgrippers snarled and snapped, sniffing at the air as a figure in scale armour entered, followed by a crimson-black shadow that growled softly when it saw the other dragons. There was a soft, slippery sound as the tusks of the dragons extended, dripping green acid that sizzled and steamed on the stone floor. The shadow snarled, its back arching, and red-orange eyes glared mercilessly from its face.

"Enough, Hunter," the figure, female by its voice, snapped her fingers, and the dragon returned to her side. "Sir, the Riders may know of my existence. One of them saw me." She stroked Hunter's head, almost unconsciously.

"That does not matter," Grimmel motioned to the Deathgrippers to surround the girl's dragon. "But it does not bode well. Separate cells, for tonight." The girl took a step forwards, her breathing harsh behind her helmet visor.

"Sir, please -"

"And for that, Stalker, I'll let you watch. Don't speak. You know what will happen if you speak." The girl seemed to cringe at his sharp voice. She took a step backwards and fell, scrambling away from the Deathgripper that had turned with lightning swiftness to stare at her, nostrils dilated, stinger flicking restlessly through the air. It took a step towards her, leaving its comrades to deal with the dragon, who was cringing away from them, whining like a dog.

One of its front feet lashed out, pinning the girl to the ground by her neck, pushing up and dislodging her helmet so that it skittered across the floor, revealing the girl's pale face. The dragon's stinger positioned itself at the side of her neck, just pricking her carotid artery. The dragon's eyes widened in pleasure and anticipation.

The girl's eyes slid to Grimmel's merciless light blue ones, silently pleading. Grimmel smiled, putting a finger to his lips. "Ssh," he whispered. Then he snapped his long, pale fingers impatiently, and the Deathgripper's stinger, laced with paralysing venom, entered Stalker's neck.

She gasped, her eyes opening wide, her body convulsing, hands scrabbling at the floor. Then she went still, limp, and the dragon hooked her over its long tusks and followed its comrades out of the room.

Grimmel sighed. She would wake up soon enough.

* * *

There was the double _click_ of two locks closing. The girl - Stalker - had been chained to one wall of her cell, manacles around her wrists and ankles. The wall opposite her was bars rather than stone, allowing her to see through it.

In the second cell, the dragon - Hunter - was likewise chained, surrounded by the pack of Deathgrippers. Every so often, Hunter would moan softly for her mistress, her orange eyes pleading. The door of her cell opened; Grimmel walked inside, holding a new harness for drug delivery, his eyes excited. The Deathgrippers growled softly at Hunter, warning her to stay still.

Stalker's eyes opened, instantly alert. She saw her dragon cowering as Grimmel advanced. Grimmel caught her eye, and winked.

Soon after, a dragon's roars of agony filled the cell.

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**Thankyou for reading this, I will post the next chapter as soon as possible. Please ****review!**

**Katie Trillion xx**


	2. Chapter 2

Dragonhunter, Nightstalker: Chapter Two: **Evening ****Fury**

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**Thankyou for staying with this story, and thanks to CalvinFujii for following. Sorry for not updating; I was on holiday (camping) but I hope you had a brilliant holiday while I was gone. Please read on:**

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Hiccup flew through the night, Toothless's panting breathing loud in his ears. It was muggy tonight, an army of grey clouds gathering on the horizon, promising a storm that would rock Berk.

"Hiccup?" Astrid poked his shoulder, hard. Hiccup jerked from his daze. "Dozing off?"

"No, Astrid!" Hiccup tried to not to yawn, and failed. Toothless's eyes were tired as well, but within a few exhausted flaps of his leathery wings the colourful, teetering fragile mass of houses and turrets and perches that was Berk came into site, monochrome in the evening light. Hiccup sighed. He could hear Berk from here, he could hear the chattering, howling, growling nattering of the dragons, the swish of wings beating the air, the creak of vibrantly painted rafters as the dragons perched on rooftops, the greetings of owners as their beloved dragons returned home.

Hiccup closed his eyes for a second, enjoying the moment, the salty sea air in his nostrils, the wind tousling his hair, the feel of Toothless beneath him, carrying him home. He reached down and patted the exhausted dragon's flank reassuringly. Toothless's green eyes reflected the moonlight, and the dragon seemed to grin up at him, wings beating a comforting, whooshing rhythm around him.

Then something slammed into Toothless's side, a clawing, biting something that knocked the dragon out from under him, sending Toothless spiralling into the sea; a roar of surprise and fear echoed up as Toothless fell in a flailing tangle of limbs and billowing scaly wings. The wind howling around him, pushing him and shoving him in all directions, Hiccup fumbled for his gliders, and his stomach swooped as he managed to control his fall. Then someone reached up, grabbed him around the neck and pulled. Hiccup jerked in surprise, twisting his head, trying to see who was trying to strangle him.

He looked down at a girl, lying on her back on the back of a dragon whose scales were an iridescent crimson-black, shimmering between the two colours. She locked her legs around his and twisted, so that she was on top of him, with him against the warm scales of the dragon's back. She began pulling his head back, arching his neck, sending pain shearing through his neck and back. Hiccup's vision began to blur, and the dragon underneath him bucked, his head knocking against the thick leather-and-metal harness that it had around its neck, sending a lance of pain through the back of his skull.

Hiccup struggled, wondering how strong the dragon must be to be able to carry two people and fly at the same time. He managed to wriggle until his hand was at his belt, and he drew the Monstrous Nightmare saliva sword, fire igniting all the way along the blade. From behind the girl's helmet visor came a snort of laughter, lost in the mad, wild howling of the wind, which was still threatening to tug them both off the dragon's back.

Still keeping her hand around Hiccup's neck, the girl grabbed the burning blade of the sword - "No!" Hiccup shouted, in his mind's eyes already seeing the girl's ungloved hand burning, blistering - and pulled it towards her, before flipping it in her hand so that she was holding the hilt. Her hands were undamaged. The girl, still straddling Hiccup, trapping him with her legs and the hand around his neck, slashed through the leather gliders, sending scraps of burnt leather spiralling down towards the heaving, steely ocean.

The girl laughed again, the sound lost in the screaming, keening wind, and shifted her position; Hiccup was now teetering on the dragon's left side, hanging over the huge drop towards the sea, and the girl was anchored firmly on its right. Then she twisted her legs again, and pushed Hiccup off the dragon.

* * *

Toothless fell, roaring, the wind whipping past him, his eyes almost closed against the rush of cold, biting air and vicious spray. The storm that had been massing its forces was about to break.

He hit the water with an explosion of freezing, icy, numbing cold, sinking into his bones like frozen bullets. His movements slowed, dulled by the cold, flailing impossibly slowly. Toothless struggled upwards, breaking the surface with a growling gasp, straight into a swirling mass of driving rain, smothering him almost as much as the water, forcing him to narrow his eyes to slits. Paddling furiously to stay afloat, Toothless trained his eyes on the second dragon, and the flailing tangle of Hiccup and the girl in red-black scale armour.

Then a wave crashed over him, his mouth opened in a roar that came out as a stream of bubbles, then the water rushed in. Toothless felt the relentless pushing, shoving, pulling of the riptide around him begin to push him deeper.

* * *

Hiccup hit the water and immediately began to sink, his scale armour and waterlogged clothes dragging at him, pulling him deeper. Far below, he could just see the flailing dark shape of Toothless. He kicked out with his legs, struggling to swim, and pushed himself down, trying to reach the struggling dragon.

His fingers brushed the leather saddle, but were too numb to grasp it - Toothless's eyes were pleading, wide, like a child's. Hiccup, already feeling the agony in his chest that meant oxygen deprivation, tried to swim across the saddle, but the numbing water made his movements slow, clumsy, futile.

Then a blur of blue scales and blonde hair dove through the black water towards them; Astrid and Stormfly, Stormfly's eyes glowing a golden amber in the darkness, Astrid's blonde hair floating around her face like elegant tendrils of seaweed. They manoeuvred under Toothless, lifting him and Hiccup, and Stormfly kicked with her powerful back legs, pushing them upwards.

Hiccup, Astrid, Stormfly and Toothless broke the surface with a communal gasp, veritable waterfalls pouring from their hair, clothes, and scales. The rain was falling a little less hard, and Barf, Belch, Meatlug, Hookfang and their riders helped the sodden group out of the water. As soon as they were in the air, the dragons began to shake the water from their wings and blink it out of their eyes.

"What h-happened to you?" Hiccup's teeth were chattering, his hair dripping icy seawater into his eyes.

Fishlegs hovered beside him, looking absolutely terrified, freezing cold and excited (quite possibly beyond the bounds of sanity) at the same time. "That girl who attacked you, you saw the dragon, right? She attacked us as well, while you were in the water. Her dragon's another Night Fury - but different, Hiccup! A similar species but different! When Barf and Belch -" Hiccup looked at the twins and their dragons, who were looking strangely morose and distinctly annoyed. "-tried to do their explosion, the dragon absorbed the force and the fire and sent it back at us!"

Hiccup stared around, and saw that the seat of Snotlout's trousers was singed and smoking; the twins' hair was partly burnt away, both their helmets melted and bent in, the extravagant horns broken. Fishlegs was grinning almost maniacally.

"Let's get home before we start theorising," Hiccup shivered. "I'm sure everyone wants to be close to a good fire."

* * *

"YOU LET THEM ESCAPE?" Grimmel roared, her face suffused with fury.

Stalker hung her head. The Deathgrippers growled, their claws scraping and screeching on the stone as they crept closer.

"I'm sorry, sir." Next to her, Hunter gave an answering growl as the larger dragons advanced, their yellow eyes glowing in the light of the fire, stingers raised in readiness to attack. Hunter's body tensed, and the dragon crouched, ready to pounce.

"That isn't good enough, Stalker." Grimmel's voice was soft now. People listened to his whispers. Grimmel turned away from her and began rummaging through his desk, clearly searching for nothing good. With a glee approaching reverence, Grimmel removed a long, thin whip from a drawer and whistled for one of his Deathgrippers.

Careful to not touch the acid with his bare hands, Grimmel dragged the whip through the acidic saliva that was dripping from the dragon's mouth.

Stalker froze, seeming unable to back away or run. At her feet, Hunter moaned softly, her pupils narrowing to mere slits in wide orange irises. She snarled, the scales on her back standing up, her wings lifting. She looked larger and more threatening now.

"No, Hunter. Don't hurt yourself protecting me." Stalker sounded like she was going to cry. She pulled her helmet off, shaking out her long dark brown hair, revealing her face for the first time. She was pale, her skin tinged umber in the flickering light of the constant fire. A long scar marred the left side of her face, pulling at the corner of eye and twisting the corner of her mouth down into a grimace, then disappearing beneath her armour. Her eyes were blue, the colour of the sea on a sunny day.

"How admirable," Grimmel whispered.

Stalker's hands clenched for a second, then relaxed. She unbuckled her armour, letting it clatter to the floor in a heap. Underneath, she was wearing a plaid, faded blue shirt and black leggings. Slowly, she turned around so that her back faced Grimmel, sweeping her hair back so that it was out of the way.

Grimmel advanced, acid from the whip boring holes in the stone, the Deathgrippers' orange eyes focused on the progress of each drop. They hissed, their monstrous heads snapping up, as Hunter growled at them, her claws unsheathing, her wings still raised threateningly. The larger dragons' claws dug long white scratches into the stone as they turned to face her, their stingers raised.

Grimmel, oblivious to the defiance of the dragon, smiled, his thin lips curving into a venomous grin. He raised the whip. As it came down on the girl's back, drops of acid bored through the fabric and through her flesh even before the agony of the whip.

Screams filled the air.

* * *

The group huddled around the fire, its welcome warmth enveloping them. Hiccup slipped off his helmet, and next to him Astrid did the same.

"Who was she? Did you see her face?" Astrid asked.

"I don't know. She was wearing a helmet," Hiccup answered. His wet clothes and armour were beginning to steam as they dried, but he still shivered. Toothless butted his hand, and Hiccup rubbed his smooth scales reassuringly.

"Hiccup!" Fishlegs called his name, hurrying up to him, waving a sheet of paper. "I tried to sketch the dragon from what I saw - what do you think?"

Hiccup studied the drawing, trying to decipher something as fatigue made his vision blur. His entire body ached from hitting the water, his lungs hurt, his "It - it had larger wings than Toothless, I think. It was bigger altogether, it was carrying me and the girl and flying through a storm at the same time. It had orange eyes - " he yawned. "Sorry." Toothless butted his hand again.

"We'd better get to bed," Astrid said. "It's late. C'mon, you lot."

Grumbling and smoking, the twins wandered off, followed by Snotlout and Hookfang, then Fishlegs, still frantically making alterations to his sketch.

Astrid turned to Hiccup. "Want me to walk you home? You look dead on your feet."

* * *

Stalker lay on the ground, bleeding from the mass of cuts and acid burns on her back. She could smell the Deathgrippers lapping at the blood pooling around her - a stink of blood, acid and rotten mutton.

Grimmel bent down to whisper to her. "Do better next time, my dear." He locked a chain into the leather-and-metal collar around Hunter's neck. The dragon snapped and snarled, fighting to be free, but he dragged her out of the room. The desperate roars of the dragon echoed back down the corridors.

Stalker couldn't move, every time she so much as twitched, her back was in agony. She couldn't move to escape the dragons that were closing in around her.

"Beta..." she whispered. The dragons paused. Beta sniffed the air. "Please..." She reached out, daring to touch the dragon's snout despite the danger and the pain.

"Please..."

A set of tusks extended from Beta's mouth, hooking under Stalker's body and lifting her up.

The dragon snarled at the others, who tried to snap at the girl's limbs as they trailed along the ground. _Stop. _Blood dripped from Beta's mouth.

Beta walked out of the room, still snarling at any Deathgripper that tried to block his way.

* * *

**So, um, hi everyone. I was camping so I haven't been able to update and I'm going in holiday to Dorset soon, so this is probably the last chapter so far! Please be patient, and please ****review!**

**Katie Trillion xx**


	3. Chapter 3

Dragonhunter, Nightstalker Chapter 3

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**Author's Note: Sorry for not updating, I have been on holiday and writing my book and two other fanfics, so please cut me some slack. I am going back to school on the 3****rd****, so I don't know when I'll be able to write again.**

* * *

**Berk, the following morning:**

Fog crept from the sea like some monstrous grey creature, slithering through the sleeping, tottering streets, great melancholy tentacles sneaking and infiltrating the houses.

The fog was gathering in a carpet around the base of the enormous cliffs that surrounded Berk and spreading across the town and sea like an infection.

The fog was so deep and thick that it was as though the island was floating on a grey cloud, lifted from the rock foundations and thrown into the sky by some insanely furious god.

"Mummy?" A small girl with two stubby red plaits, her dress brown and a tiny helmet perched on her head, was wandering through the streets, looking as though she were drowning in the morass of fog.

"Mummy? Where are you?"

The girl took a step forward, her hair saturated with moisture from the fog, her hands tracing patterns in the grey.

She jerked backwards, shock bursting on her face, her eyes widening. She tried to cry out, but a black-gloved hand was clamped over her mouth.

"Good girl," whispered a soft, accented voice. "Be quiet."

* * *

Stalker woke up. For a second she didn't know where she was. A stink of blood, acid and rotting mutton filled her nostrils, the floor underneath her was gritty and ashy, and she could barely lift her head.

Her mouth tasted like something small and maggoty had died in it, but she managed to say, "Beta?" in a croaky whisper.

There was a soft growl from next to her. Something big and warm moved in the dark. An amber eye opened, glowing softly. Another growl rippled through the air.

"Sorry." Stalker whispered. She managed to stagger to her feet, her back aching, her body still slow with fatigue, like her clothes were lined with lead.

"There you are," a soft accented whisper burned like poison through her brain. Stalker looked up into Grimmel's blue eyes. He was holding a small, red-haired little girl, who was struggling and kicking but not doing any damage.

Grimmel put a little more pressure on the knife at her throat, and she froze instantly.

"Found you," he whispered.

* * *

"Astrid, what should I do?" Hiccup dragged a hand across his forehead. Toothless nuzzled comfortingly into his other hand, but it didn't calm his shaking nerves. "I can't stop thinking about the girl – she nearly killed me, she could take Berk –"

Astrid, her knuckles white on the handle of her axe, scowled. "We'll have to keep watch, Hiccup. If I see her, she's taking a one-way trip into the ocean."

"Astrid!" Hiccup admonished. "If you see her, try and bring her and the dragon to me. We can talk to her, study the dragon… we are not going to kill her!"

Astrid made a _harrumph _noise.

Behind them, Stormfly was basking in the morning sunrise, her sapphire scales glimmering. Her wings were spread to soak up the heat. Stormfly's yellow eyes lit up with pleasure as Astrid tossed a fish to her, but before it could be snapped up by her waiting jaws, Toothless leapt up, stubby paws flailing, and caught and swallowed it in one movement.

Stormfly snarled softly, her muscles tensing. She leapt from her relaxed position and began a play-fighting, chasing game, all fake snarls and the coughing laughter that dragons made in the back of their throats.

"Leave them to it," Hiccup said, when Astrid made to call them back. Spotting Fishlegs walking down the road, Meatlug on his heels and scribbling into a notebook, Hiccup called to him: "Hey, Fishlegs!"

Fishlegs waved to him and hurried over. There were dark rings under his eyes and his hair was dishevelled.

"Hiccup," Fishlegs gasped, sitting down on a nearby rock. "I've been up all night, sketching and making notes on the Bright Fury."

"Bright Fury?" Astrid turned on Hiccup, incredulous, "You named it? What about the girl?"

Fishlegs showed them the hide-bound notebook, filled with scribbled charcoal notes and sketches – wings, heads, tails. "As we know, the Bright Fury is able to absorb energy – heat energy – into itself. This could be limited, but we don't know if it has to use that energy in its fire, possibly to amplify it. And the girl – you mentioned that she held your saliva-sword with now visible harm to skin, as though she was also absorbing the energy – she may have been part-dragon, genetic information implanted into her. We never know."

"But we will!" Hiccup announced triumphantly. "We will find her."

* * *

Stalker wasn't screaming any more. That had stopped a long time ago.

She was kneeling now, just kneeling and waiting for it to be over – the whipping and the burning, the scars. Stalker waited. The dragon genes in her system healed her faster than a normal human, but not fast enough to dull the pain.

The purple venom flooded into her bloodstream, but she had developed such a resistance to the strong poison that the physical effects of it were gone. But the psychological effect of the venom was as strong as ever.

She felt her thoughts, her resistance, melt away like snow in sunlight, swirling from her grasp like water down a plughole.

"Ready, Stalker?" Grimmel said, helping her to her feet. He put his hand under her chin and lifter her head up so that they were staring at each other – green eyes into icy blue.

"Yes."

* * *

The explosion rocked Berk, waking Hiccup from his sleep. Toothless's head jerked up, his green eyes bleary.

"Toothless!" Hiccup said, "Come on!" He climbed onto the dragon's back, his prosthetic foot clinking against Toothless's hard scales. He urged Toothless out of the window, the dragon's tail catching on the wood.

The west side of Berk was on fire, and the sprinklers and fire brigade – dragons scooping up water from the sea in their mouth and claw-held buckets and pouring it onto the flames – were doing next to nothing.

"No!" Hiccup yelled.

Astrid and Stormfly soared up beside him, using the rising thermals to their advantage.

"What the hell is going on?" Astrid yelled. Stormfly snarled an affirmative, flapping closer and touching wings with Toothless.

"No idea!" Hiccup shouted back. "We need to help!"

They flew down to the sea, scooping water into their mouths. Someone tossed them buckets and Hiccup and Astrid filled them as well, throwing the contents onto the fire where they promptly evaporated.

"It's no good!" Astrid yelled over the crackling, roaring flames. "We can't put it out!"

Then a huge, bellowing roar – much louder than the fire – echoed around the burning section of Berk. The massive purple shape of the Crimson Goregutter, the antler-like crest on its head a threatening silhouette in the light of the flames, rose over it, its wings fanning huge amounts of air onto the flames. The orange tongues of fire began to flicker, at first sporadically, then feebly, before finally going out.

A great cheer rose up from the fire brigade and the hundreds of other dragons and Vikings who had been helping, followed by a firework-like display (safely above the burnt ruins) from the dragons' mouths.

In the silence, the _thwap-thwap _of wings flapping reached them. A Night-Fury-like shape was ascending from the ruins, glimmering an iridescent red-black.

"No, no, " Hiccup moaned, "Not now…"

Fire began to flicker around the dragon, slowly forming a much larger shape around it – a huge energy-construct shaped like a dragon.

"What the –" Hiccup managed, feeling his eyebrows crisping in the blast of heat. Toothless growled, the sound rumbling in his throat. His mouth began to glow blue, the light flickering around the spines on his back. His lip curled as he snarled again.

The other dragon and her rider shivered. The fire-dragon around them flickered, and a fading roar echoed around the cliffs.

Toothless flapped laboriously towards them in the fading thermals, still glowing. The Bright Fury's spine stiffened as Toothless approached, and the girl perched on her back winced and clutched her sword tighter. She could hear the black dragon's voice in her head, sharp and keen, but also kind.

_I am the Alpha! Who are you to defy me? What are the both of you?_

The girl stared at him. "My name is Stalker," she said, her voice muffled through the scale-armour helmet.

Hiccup, thrown roughly from side to side by the hurried, lurching flaps of Toothless's wings, stared at her as she removed the helmet, shaking out her long dark hair and blinking in the light of the sun.

"My name is Hiccup," Hiccup said, but she shushed him, listening to Toothless. He flapped forwards a little, and sniffed Hunter's nose and the side of her neck.

Stalker's hand, holding a knife, snapped out, stopping a hair's breadth from the black scales of Toothless's neck, on the edge of slicing across the taut, bunched muscles.

Hiccup caught her wrist, twisted, and Stalker winced, her knife coming up and slashing a shallow cut along Toothless's jaw. The dragon screeched in shock and pain, rearing and throwing Hiccup off. Astrid and Stormfly caught him smoothly, and he landed hard on Stormfly's scaly back.

Above, Hunter snarled, her red-black scales shining. Toothless shook himself, the pain in his jaw fading to a dull ache, growling back. In the back of his throat, the blue light brightened.

Stalker snapped her fingers. A spark leapt, and bloomed into flame, wrapping around her wrist like a snake. Her helmet tumbled from her other hand, disappearing into the burnt ruins below.

Stalker pressed her fingertips together, and grinned. The snaking tongue of flame wound down her arm, to her wrist, and she clasped her hands around it. A faint amber glow emanated from between her fingers.

She opened her hands, and Toothless, Stormfly. Astrid and Hiccup were blown back by a wave of heat and fire in a tumbling, flailing confusion of wings, arms, legs and screeches.

Fire burst from Stalker's skin. She screamed. Hunter dove towards a tottering, charred wooden structure and perched on it, hoping it would support her weight.

Stalker was slumped in the saddle, unconscious, her hair falling over her face in a dark curtain. Fire still lit up her veins so that golden light laced across her face and arms.

Hunter made a soft, worried, affectionate sound in the back of her throat, before shifting a little so that Stalker slid from her back. Catching Stalker in her paws, she placed her carefully on a section of floor that looked stable, before pushing the girl's hair away from her face with a delicate claw.

She settled down to wait.

* * *

**Thankyou for reading! Please ****review!**

**Katie Trillion xx**


	4. Chapter 4

Dragonhunter, Nightstalker Chapter 4

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**Sorry for not updating in a while, I've had a tonne of homework and also trying to write three fanfictions at one is not easy! Thankyou for being so patient! Please enjoy!**

* * *

Hiccup and Toothless landed on the roof of the makeshift infirmary. From inside, the sound of people – terrified and in pain – echoed through Hiccup's brain. He climbed laboriously down from Toothless's back and patted the dragon appreciatively on the flank.

"You did so well, bud." Toothless snorted in response, nuzzling into Hiccup's hand and staring at him as if to say, _Of course I did. It's a burden I must bear. _

Reluctantly, Hiccup dropped from the roof. He hated leaving the ash-choked sky for the blood-soaked ground.

Inside the infirmary, there were people lying moaning on blankets and yet more Berkians bustling around, bandaging, applying salves and ointments, or just sitting next to their loved ones and holding their hands.

"Hiccup!" Fishlegs yelled, gesturing for Hiccup to come. He was sitting next to Meatlug, who had a nasty, deep burn on her snout and was making soft, whimpering growls of pain.

"It's going to be okay, Meatlug," Fishlegs whispered. "Trust me." He stroked the dragon's flank, and Hiccup could see that he had been crying. Next to Fishlegs was a pot of ointment, which he opened; scooping at of handful of cream, he spread it over the burn. Meatlug growled appreciatively as the pain began to alleviate.

* * *

Toothless sat outside the infirmary, his tail swishing impatiently from side to side, his claws clenched tight on the edge of the roof. The wood moaned and splintered a little. Toothless snarled at the sudden noise, but loosened his death grip.

He was internally raging – someone had dared to burn his territory, to stake a claim over his land! Toothless snapped at a Terrible Terror who had flown too close, and the tiny, garishly red dragon let out a squeal of pain as Toothless's jaws closed around his tail.

The Terror felt blood dripping down from the base of his tail. His face screwed up into a look of intense concentration, then it dumped his raggedy tail, the appendage simply dropping off and wriggling feebly in Toothless's mouth. The Terror immediately made a break for it, flapping frantically away into the burnt ruins.

Toothless snarled with frustration and followed it, jumping off the roof and letting his automatic tail-fin flick out to support him.

Around him, the dark skeletons of the buildings loomed up out of the ashy ground, and a pall of choking grey smoke still blotted out the sky. He flew onwards, swerving around the towering wrecks of the town and through the more ruined ones. Huge, angular silhouettes blossomed out of the growing blackness as he dove deeper into the mass of burnt town.

Toothless reared up in a panic as the side of a house seemed to leap up in front of him, the wide roof decorated with a statue of a dragon. As Toothless's wingbeats quickened, disturbed ash rose up in a choking cloud of pure black around him, and he felt the artificial tailfin began to tear as he thrashed in terror –

A low growl cut through the jumble of terrified thoughts in Toothless's head. From the charred roof, the statue of the dragon was moving. The shape of a human climbed to its feet – Toothless growled – and stretched out its hand

"Here." The voice was female, Toothless knew. He was still thrashing, but with less fear. The terror was slowly being numbed.

"I know you don't know me."

Toothless tried to still his wild heartbeat and the crazy, jerking flaps of his wings.

"But you have to trust me."

Somehow Toothless's flailing paw found the warm fingers of the human's hand.

"Hunter, help me lift him," the girl said, and Toothless felt the warmth of another dragon underneath him, pushing him up towards the light. His stubby claws scrabbled and scrambled for purchase on the charred wooden roof.

Eventually, Toothless was perched on the roof, sneezing ash out of his nostrils, but he was alive and unhurt.

The human girl who had helped him was sitting next to him, hugging her knees and hiding her face. Toothless nudged her gently with his snout to get her to show him her face.

He rumbled something deep in his throat: _Lift your head, little one. _

The girl's head jerked up as though pulled by puppet strings. She had long brown hair, pale skin as though she hadn't seen daylight for a long time, and her eyes were blue as forget-me-nots. One side of her face was a mess of burns and cuts – it looked as though acid had been poured over her skin.

_Are you healthy, little one? _Toothless asked.

The girl nodded. "Are you?"

_I am fine. _Toothless sneezed again. _Mostly. _

The dragon who had lifted Toothless was perched a gloomy distance from both of them, her head bowed. She looked as though she were asleep.

"Hunter?" The girl said.

The dragon's head flicked around. Toothless was more than a little stunned. The dragon looked like a Night Fury, but curiously different – her scales had an iridescent, reddish sheen to them, and her eyes were a golden amber colour. Frozen flames seemed to be trapped in her eyes like pure light was embedded in her irises. She looked at Toothless for a long moment.

_Hello, _she said tentatively. Her voice was sweeter and a little higher than Toothless's, but it carried none of Toothless's warm acceptance and playful nature. The dragon's voice was cold and perhaps a little threatened. She had never seen another one of her kind before.

_Hello, _Toothless answered. _I… Thankyou for helping me. _Nervously, he took a few steps along the rooftop towards her.

_What is your name? _She asked abruptly, her muscles tensing, ready to spring. Her golden eyes were suspicious and watchful, although Toothless noticed that when she looked over at the brown-haired girl, her eyes softened. The glance was caring and affectionate, almost sisterly.

_Toothless, _said Toothless. The dragon's gaze immediately returned to stare at him. He did not dare to move a muscle. This dragon would clearly lash out at any sign of intended harm towards her friend.

_My name is Hunter, _she answered. _She is Stalker. _

The girl nodded. She smiled. "Don't be so cold, Hunter," she said. "He won't hurt us, I'm sure of it. He just feels hurt and fear for his… friend."

Toothless nodded. _Yes. Hiccup needs me. _

"Hiccup?" The girl's face became a mask of suspicion. Stalker was as threatened by other humans as Hunter was by Toothless. Stalker walked to Hunter and put a hand on her neck. At her touch, Hunter's muscles relaxed somewhat. "He would try to split us apart," Stalker whispered. "He would be frightened by us." Her fingers fluttered over the mess of injuries on her face. "By me."

Hunter snorted and nudged Stalker. _I could always disembowel him if he did. _Toothless could tell from her tone that she was not joking.

"Good idea." Stalker seemed to relax a little. She turned to Toothless. "Can you fly?"

Toothless nodded. The tailfin would sustain him until they got back to the infirmary and to Hiccup.

* * *

Hiccup stepped outside, his prosthetic leg clinking on the wooden platform. The fresh air, even with its taint of charred Berk, was a welcome relief from the stuffy stink of blood, sweat and sickly ointment that pervaded the infirmary.

"Toothless!" he called up to the rooftop. "You can come down now!"

There was no response from the roof. Hiccup shouted again: "Toothless, bud? Can you come down?"

Again, nothing. Hiccup felt a chill of fear, no doubt brought on by the recent trauma in the infirmary – a young girl, her red plaits half burnt off, had been carried in by her family's terrified Deadly Nadder, bleeding from a stab wound in her side and with several second-degree burns all over her body, both from both the fire and what looked like acid.

Her parents weren't there, having gone to salvage the wreckage of their house and search for their lost daughter themselves. Instead, the girl had died on a pile of stinking sheets, her face ashen white and her dress and hands stained scarlet with her own blood. Her dragon – Hiccup remembered that it had been called Windflower – had been crouched beside her the whole time, her little hand stroking his warm snout, the movement getting slower and slower until her hand had dropped to the ground, limp and still.

Her last words had been: "He's coming, Windflower. The white-haired man. He's coming. He'll find me." The helpless dragon had licked her hand in an attempt to comfort her, tears dripping from his scaly-lidded eyes all the while.

Hiccup groaned. He couldn't get the image out of his head. "Toothless!" he yelled, his voice sharp with impatience and grief. He hadn't even known the kid, so why was he so affected by her death?

Then two dragons came swooping towards him, one clearly Toothless, the other –

"Damn!" he shouted. He pulled his fire-sword from his belt and lit it. The mysterious girl and her formidable dragon was back, and this time, he was sure, they would try and kill him again.

He wasn't going to let them succeed.

* * *

**Thankyou for reading! I will try to update as soon as I can, but I'm trying to finish my Infinity/Endgame fanfiction as well as X-Men, so please be patient as I don't know when I'll have the chance again!**

**Thankyou for reading! Please review!**

**Katie Trillion xx**


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